Better Bracing: Expand Your Ribs Sideways
I hear a lot of you saying you struggle to get a full breath to brace when you have weight on you.
You won’t get as full of a breath when you have a bar racked on you because you’ll be maintaining a baseline of tension, which limits expansion to fill the lungs. So don’t expect to be able to breathe exactly the same as you do when unloaded.
Try feeling your ribs expanding sideways when you inhale without drawing your abs in.
This encourages a more expansive breath by getting you focused on the sensation of enlarging your ribcage, while helping you avoid arching your back to lift your chest.
If you can feel that sideways expansion, and you’re not squeezing your abs in tighter, you should be filling your lungs well enough to brace forcefully.
I think bracing might be one of the hardest things to teach, and it gets even harder because there’s so much disagreement on what works best.
Always keep the purpose in the forefront of your mind:
To make the trunk rigid to transmit force as completely as possible and prevent injury.*
If you’re locking your trunk in actively and forcefully and it’s not compressing or bending as you lift, you’re doing fine. Don’t overthink it.
*It should be noted for thoroughness that aside from the mechanical purpose, bracing actually improves the nervous system’s ability to generate force.
You won’t get as full of a breath when you have a bar racked on you because you’ll be maintaining a baseline of tension, which limits expansion to fill the lungs. So don’t expect to be able to breathe exactly the same as you do when unloaded.
Try feeling your ribs expanding sideways when you inhale without drawing your abs in.
This encourages a more expansive breath by getting you focused on the sensation of enlarging your ribcage, while helping you avoid arching your back to lift your chest.
If you can feel that sideways expansion, and you’re not squeezing your abs in tighter, you should be filling your lungs well enough to brace forcefully.
I think bracing might be one of the hardest things to teach, and it gets even harder because there’s so much disagreement on what works best.
Always keep the purpose in the forefront of your mind:
To make the trunk rigid to transmit force as completely as possible and prevent injury.*
If you’re locking your trunk in actively and forcefully and it’s not compressing or bending as you lift, you’re doing fine. Don’t overthink it.
*It should be noted for thoroughness that aside from the mechanical purpose, bracing actually improves the nervous system’s ability to generate force.
